Director's blog

Every year our annual report looks back on our performance of the previous financial year and forward to our future plans. In this blog, Chief Financial Officer, Peter Vermeulen, responds to the publication of our 2020/21 report and offers insight into our financial accounts.

The Charity Commission has concluded today that that there are no grounds for regulatory action against us, following complaints the Commission received about a report we published last September. Director-General Hilary McGrady responds to their statement, and offers further insight into our approach to researching and sharing the history of the places in our care.

Director of Operations Andy Beer highlights plans for reopening the houses we've had to close, and discusses how the hope of reuniting friends and families across our places makes difficult decisions worthwhile.

In this latest blog, John Orna-Ornstein, Director of Culture and Engagement addresses the debate around our work on the Colonial Countryside project, a creative writing and history project for school children.

Membership Director Tom North looks back on a year like no other, and thanks supporters for staying with us throughout. It’s meant the Trust could keep on caring for the nation’s precious places, securing them for future generations, and was able to welcome many members back following a spring closure.

After a year of uncertainty, it’s more important than ever for everyone to have access to green spaces, historical stories and beautiful places to find a sense of calm. These are the things we look after, for everyone to reach some normality. <br><br> Many cultural institutions have become the subject of fierce debate, moving discussions away from what the nation needs most right now: ...

In June, because of the pandemic, we agreed with the Charity Commission to replace our Annual General Meeting with a members' broadcast. Below Director General Hilary McGrady discusses the challenges of the last 12 months.

Today, a consultation closes on the Government's proposed planning reforms, an area of great importance to us. Director-General Hilary McGrady outlines her thoughts on the proposals, and what this means for the future of nature, beauty and history.

It's the mid-point of Black History Month. Tiger de Souza, our Volunteering, Participation & Inclusion Director, gives his reflections on why it's so important for us to do more to share and celebrate black histories, from the places we look after, in the future.

Celia Richardson, our Director of Communications and Insight, has written a response to some recent media coverage of our report into colonialism and historic slavery that says that we are denigrating Churchill by including Chartwell, his family home in Kent, in the report. In this blog she highlights the work we are doing to tell the story of this towering historical figure and why Chartwell’s...